What's your favourite & most used darkroom tool?

[Nicole]

So what's your...

1) favourite darkroom tool (apart from music)?
2) most used tool (apart from the rubbish bin)?

Sometimes the answer may be different to each question.


I mix so much Xtol, I couldn't do without my magnetic mixer.

 

[Ian Grant]

Favourite must be my Ilford DT30 digital thermometer, I must have had it over 8 years, came with a whole load of darkroom & other photographic stuff I bought in 200, but I only started using it last summer. It's accurate & fast to use.

Most useful is the pieces of card that come in the Polywarmtone packets that I use for dodging burning etc.

Ian

 

[Trevor Crone]

1) Other then the enlarger and lighting head it would have to be the foot switch, wonderful to have your hands free.

2) The foot switch and a piece of card from an old Kodak picture mount, so flexible for burning and dodging and test strips.

 

[ricksplace]

Glass bottles. I came across a yard sale several years ago and bought six one gallon jugs, two half gallon jugs, and about 15 one quart bottles, all dark brown, for $5. I also bought some dark brown glass bottles with large mouths, 250ml, from a guy on ebay. He sells 84 of them for $10 (and $30 shipping). I decant colour developer and blix into these bottles filled right to the top. Chemicals keep very well in the smaller bottles with no air space. By the time I have used up the developer from one small bottle, it is just starting to turn colour due to oxidation, but still gives excellent performance. I use single solution LORR dev and blix from Kodak. Works great in rotary tubes and real easy to mix.

 

[Dan Henderson]

hmmm...a tough question. Many of my favorite things are in that little 5x10 foot refuge. But I would have to say the Stop Clock Pro timer that I purchased from Les McLean a couple of years ago. It has made keeping track of, and making changes to, split-grade printing times and burning times so much more efficient. The timer really suits my printing method and would be the first thing I would try to save from a darkroom fire.

Although the metaphorical answer should be the light switch...when the lights go down the magic begins.

 

[eclarke]

My favorite is my Corning heated, magnetic stirrer. My most used and equally favorite is my F stop timer...Evan Clarke

 

[David Brown]

Most used is easy: the sink. Nothing gets done without involving the sink!

Favorite (or "favourite") is harder. I am a big believer in good tools, for whatever pursuit. So, I've "accumulated" over the years. But for simple ease and joy of use over the alternatives, it might have to be the Kostiner stainless steel print tongs - sadly no longer made (as are so many such things).

 

[phaedrus]

The answer to both questions would be: my hands, for dodging and burning. Love to play with light!

 

[blaze-on]

Well Nic since you took away the top two, I'll say the door...to get in, and when #2 is gaining a lot of attention, to get out.

 

[George Hart]

1) my brain
2) my brain…

 

[SuzanneR]

My colorful trays get an awful lot of use. And I love to squegeee... whooosh....

 

[bsdunek]

My grain focuser - both most used and favorite. My old eyes can use all the help they can get!

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Favourite; the white light after fixing 4x5 negatives in trays.

Most used; a burning tool I made in college 25 years ago. It's a big black card with a large hole cut in the middle, then off to the side of the hole there's a disc with a bunch of progressively smaller holes cut in it - just spin the disc for the hole needed. I can burn huge areas down to itty-bitty spots with one tool, and use the edge for horizon to top of frame, or corner burns.

Murray

 

[Toffle]

Most used, most useful... Ralph Lambrecht's f-stop Printing chart. Even though I usually round off his figures quite a bit, (my ancient Gralab 300 is only good for approximate times at best) this single resource has been the single most important factor in achieving consistent and repeatable results in my prints.

I'd love to have a foot switch and/or f-stop timer, and there is really no excuse for me not to have a properly blacked-out door and window. ...and a sink... I'd love to have a sink. (Hm... looks more like I listed what I don't have... :rolleyes

Cheers,

 

[keeds]

My RHDesigns darkroom torch. Lith printing would be hell without it...

 

[wilhelm]

Favorite is the Micro-Sight grain focuser. I love that thing. Most used, hmmm... I haven't had the space to put my enlarger up in years, so I guess it would be my brain, for daydreaming about being able to print.

 

[Vaughn]

For both questions:

Silver printing -- my two pieces of matboard, each in an old Agfa photo paper black inner bag...one with a hole in it. Burning tools I have had for 20+ years
Carbon printing -- my Jobo water tempering bath, with the magnetic stirring a close second
Platinum printing -- my puddle pusher

Vaughn

 

[KWhitmore]

Favorite tool? How about paper? So many choices, sizes etc. Good paper makes my work look better I think. Without paper, there would only be negatives. Well, for the computer/scanner savvy...let's not go there.

My most used tool has to be the sink. It's not big but I sure do appreciate it. My last darkroom had no sink...it sucked! Hauling water back and forth from the bathroom with two curious cats at your heels is not fun! Very annoying in fact.

I have a question...what's a magnetic stirrer for?

 

[Vaughn]

...I have a question...what's a magnetic stirrer for?

If one mixes a lot of chemicals...especially ones that take a while to dissolve, having a device to stir is wonderful. I use to mix gallons upon gallons of Kodak Fixer (powder) at the university, stirring by hand -- tedious to say the least.

I use one to mix the pigments into the gelatin/sugar solution (technically called "glop" by many carbon printers) and to keep those pigments suspended and dispersed evenly. A magnetic stirrer can be adjusted for speed, so I can stir gently and not risk forming bubbles in the glop.

How they work (just in case someone has never heard of them)...you put a little plastic coated rod (they can vary in size and shape) in your container and set the container on the magnetic stirrer (MS). The MS has a rotating magnet in it that turns the rod in your container. The MS has a knob to adjust the speed (mine actually has a read-out to tell me the RPM's.)

Vaughn

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Favourite : Kostiner easel
Most used : burning and dodging tools

Philippe

P.S. Sorry to disappoint you but brains are no tools, they are superior, they command the tools

 

[Richard Wasserman]

I have an 11x13 inch piece of mat board, white on one side, black on the other that after many years is properly broken in, that I use for burning and dodging on every print I make. With use it has gotten very supple and I can bend it every which way to conform to all kinds of odd areas that need attention. In addition to that card I have one that is "L" shaped and a few with different shaped holes. Using these cards in various combinations, I can burn in just about anything and do some dodging too. I rarely need to make a customized burning tool, but will do so if necessary.

Richard Wasserman

 

[Robert Hall]

1. The chair.
2. The sink.



Favorite would be the lab, or where I keep my chems.

The most used would be my Jobo.

 

[Larry Bullis]

Favorite: The device I made first from a paper clip then adapted to a piece of twice bent copper strip that finds the optical center of the projected light field. I used this mostly when printing color to place the analyzer probe in the same place every time, saving a good 10 or 15 seconds / print.

Most used: My two Vollrath stainless steel 2 liter graduates that I use on the magnetic stirrer. If I'm mixing a gallon of solution, I do it in two halves.

 

[removed account4]

most used tool are my hands for dodging and burning
favorite tool is a squeegee ( windshield wiper )
been using the same one since 1981, just can't seem to wear it out!

 

[dpurdy]

Getting a lot of use is my old paper chopper
and my shell loading scales
and the hydroponics submersible aqua heater in the developer tray
and the 16x20 Z6 archival washer is pretty important